Happy 9 Months Harrison!

This little boy cant help but to amaze me!  Harrison is on the go and growing by the day.

2 weeks ago proved to be his biggest growth spurt in awhile.  The term "he seemed to grow overnight" was in fact, quite literal. Harrison went to bed in his cozy pajamas and awoke to pants legs to his shins and sporting quite the crop-top. He is completely out of all 9-month clothes and some of the twelve month clothes and very quickly becoming tight.

His motor skills have not slowed down either, Harrison is now cruising along furniture with no hands--he simply uses his sides to stabilize himself.  His periods of free-standing have increased in length (one incident just long enough to poop...)  He has also learned to climb his gate and cruise against the walls.  Frequently throughout the day I can be heard saying "No, no Harrison.  You're not big enough for that yet." The boy has his sights set high!

Harrison now has a new favorite food--pineapple.  Other new treats include blueberry puffs, pear yogurt and crackers, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti.  Even though we're trying our best to resist giving him "big people food" aka "not very healthy food", he has had a few nibbles along the way.  His favorites so far are cake frosting and the whipped topping from Caribou.  Harrison has also started using a sippy cup with a few ounces of water in it.  He is very good at holding it and directing it towards his mouth, but he is still grasping the "tip it up" concept.

This month we began using sign language with Harrison.  So far we have introduced "milk", "eat", and "more". He has developed an understanding of "milk" and "eat" and while he does not sign anything back to us quite yet, his excitement (which then leads to furious impatience) cannot be denied.  We're still working on "more"  Its hard to tell if he understands us when we sign it to him yet, but he definitely has his own way of communicating that need:  slamming his hands on the high chair and yelling.  It is said that when introducing new signs it may be 3-weeks to a month before an infant understands and/or reciprocates the sign.  That seems like a very long time, but with everyone on board I'm hoping we stick with it!

Other things new:

Harrison has decided that he likes to take of his clothes when he sleeps.  It first began with me finding him with his pants partially off.  It has now progressed to finding him with no pants on and his socks on the floor.

Our wonderful crib looks as though it has been through a war.  When we disassembled the crib for our move  a month ago small indents (2-3 total) could BARELY be seen on one of the rails.  It was discussed that we should look into rail covers.  Harrison then stopped teething and the phase seemed to be over.  Then....BAM.  Needless to say we finally purchased the rail covers.  I'm hoping that with a little sanding and staining that we can cover most of the damage.  And if not, at least the rail covers will hide the damage.

Harrison was baptized this month!  We decided to have Harrison baptized at Nativity Lutheran Church on July 29th.  It was a wonderful celebration with family and I'm glad we did it (better late than never, right?!)

Lions and Tigers and Day Cares, Oh my!

The month of July was an fun and incredibly hot one for Harrison!  We tried as often as possible to get him out and about while remembering how dangerous it can be for little ones when the temperature gets high.

Dan decided to take a day off work a few weeks ago so we could take Harrison to the Como Zoo bright and early before it got too warm.  Our sleepy head has become accustomed to sleeping until 9am recently so it was a shock to all of our systems to be up and ready to go before the zoo opened.  I was pleasantly surprised at how alert Harrison was during our trip through the zoo.  He could pick out animals from across the fields and stared with a bizarre intensity at all the strange creatures.  It was almost as if by seeing all of the animals for the first time, his understanding of the world had been shaken.

Harrison's favorite animals were the fish (REALLY?) and the giraffes.  While walking through the aquarium I realized that the little kids are the only ones that stop and look at fish while at the Como Zoo.  No older child cares about the walleye in the mucky tank.  My kid was thoroughly impressed. The least favorite animal of the day went to the gorillas. The gorillas were inside the morning we were there.  I rolled Harrison's stroller right up to the glass, the biggest gorilla sat approximately 5 feet away from him.  The intensity in that gorilla's stare was unnerving. Even though it was behind thick glass, something about the way he was staring at my baby set my mommy radar right off. I was officially freaked out.  Then the gorilla stood up and started pounding on his chest at Harrison.  That was all it took, I wheeled Harrison right on out of that monkey death trap :)

The animal adventures continued at the Slice of Shoreview.  Unfortunately we missed the parade (sleepy head decided it was too early to get up) but we did check out the petting zoo.  The petting zoo consisted of goats, a donkey, a camel and red kangaroos.  While a little too young to participate in the feeding of the animals, Harrison did enjoy staring at them!  I'm excited for the years to come when he will be a little older and able to participate in more of the activities The Slice has to offer.

July also marked the last month of Diana watching Harrison while I work.  We are so excited for her new job, but also sad.  I am incredibly grateful and blessed that she was able to watch him for so long.  I was very fortunate to never experience the tears and nervousness that comes with going back to work.  Harrison LOVED spending time with Diana and Noelle and I know he will miss them a lot!

We've started the search for a new place for Harrison while I'm working and now I understand why a lot of mom's stay at home with their kids.  99.9% of day cares are nightmares, and the other would require most to take out a second mortgage.  We haven't quite settled on a place for Harrison yet, but we're getting there.  The hardest point for us has been that I'm still only working a few days a week and many places have a 3-day minimum.  I'm imagining that the first place we find for Harrison will be temporary until I either obtain more hours or start working full time (hopefully soon!)  After that, bring on the big-bucks place!

8 Months Old

Age: 8 Months

Clothes size: 12 month tops, 9 month bottoms

Diaper size: 4

 Physical achievements:  sitting, rolling, crawling, pulling up on objects, standing, walking along furniture.

Words: "Dada", "Mum" (YAY!), "Baba" (bottle)

Fine motor development: Harrison is beginning to use the pincer grasp and  has started self-feeding.

New Foods: This month we introduced rice wafers, rice cakes and veggie crunches. He also has learned to enjoy small pieces of watermelon.  Expanding his diet past baby food and bottles to include more finger-foods is a goal for this next month.

Favorite food:  Sweet potatoes continues to be Harrison's favorite-although he has yet to turn anything away.  Harrison has also developed a taste for grass.

Teeth: 7

Sleep: 11-12 hours at night, 2 naps/day at around 1-1/2 hours each

Favorites: Walks in his stroller around the parks, playing with the cat (aka trying to pull the cat's fur out), Swimming, bath time, and Little Einsteins.

Dislikes: Diaper changes, changing clothes, anything that requires being restrained or contained in a small area.

7 Months Going on 2 Years. Or So it Seems.

Our little cutie pie is now 7 months old! The past month has been one of big changes for Harrison.  Just when we think this little guy is going to slow down a little he takes off again.

Harrison now has 6 teeth.  Yes, 6.  Its ridiculous really. After suffering through the first two bottom teeth, he really has become quite a champ and pushing those little buggers through, with only a night here and there of waking up.  While its something out of the ordinary for Harrison to wake up in the middle of the night, these once-in-a-while midnight snuggle sessions do tug on my heart strings.  Daniel and I joke about how we got jipped out of a baby.  Harrison was sleeping through the night at about 3 weeks and never required much in the way of coddling as a newborn.  Last week, as I was laying with him in bed at 2:00 in the morning, giving him a small bottle to help calm him back to sleep, I couldn't help but feel like I may have missed out on something.  As long as my little man continues to be a snuggler in his toddler years, I think I can look past it.

Speaking of snuggling, holy cow is Harrison a "lap" baby.  I love that he has become a snuggle baby, often crawling up into your lap for hugs.  He has also learned how to give kisses (aka open mouth drool sucks to the cheek or chin). Since he was about 3 months old, we have tried to find a happy medium in the amount of time we will provide active stimulation with time to encourage individual play.  Harrison is just like I was as a baby, wanting attention all the time and sometimes relying on others to entertain him.  While this is wonderful at times, I do eventually get to that point of "Okay Harrison, time to play with your toys and let Mommy clear her mind for a minute."  It is a very challenging task to balance wanting to spoil and smother your baby yet allow room for personal growth.   

Another area of development is his new ability to stand.  It took Harrison quite awhile to put the pieces together when it came to crawling, but standing up was 1-2-3 and by the end of the day it was done.  Yet another moment of  "Yay! Look at him go!"  mixed with "Oh crap."  Harrison now pulls himself up on EVERYTHING.  Couches, TV stands, his crib, and toys (especially toys that are low to the ground and not suitable for standing support....) We experienced his first moment of not being able to lower himself back down once pulling himself up in bed.  Mommy still feels horrible about letting him "cry it out" for 5 minutes before realizing he was stuck standing up in his crib.  I'm quickly discovering that I will most likely feel guilty about something or other until he moves out....or possibly longer :)  Thankfully, he did teach himself how to lower himself down from a standing position quickly.  We've had a couple of "booms", but thankfully none that weren't made better by a hug, a kiss, and a snuggle. It is amazing to me how little ones learn how to do the most amazing things without any direction at all.  It is incredible how strong a baby's instinct is when it comes to learning movements.  I never once showed him how to do any of this (more because I was hoping to keep him still and in one spot for a little longer!) yet he just "figured it out". 

Now that he's mastered pulling himself up and standing, he is beginning to show signs of walking.  Every day he is getting more and more steady on his feet and will occasionally let go of what he's holding on to.  Brave little boy.  We've started playing a little game with him as well, where we will put an object (most commonly a TV remote) on the furthest cushion of the couch and watch as he side-steps his way down to the other end.

Harrison's diet has expanded quite a bit in the last month as well.  We successfully made it through all of the veggies, fruits and grains with no allergies!  Most recently, we've introduce Yo Baby yogurt into his diet.  He loves it.  It is the one thing that he will eat to the bottom of the container and want more.  We tried the grain "puffs" as a way to encourage his pincer grasp development, but he found those to be a little difficult to eat.  It may be the neurotic mother in me speaking, but they didnt quite dissolve fast enough in his mouth for my comfort.  I'm not ready to tackle the fear of him choking quite yet.  An awesome alternative we've tried is the yogurt melts.  He is still figuring out how to "let go" of the food once he has it in his mouth, but he'll get there!

During the days that I am home with Harrison, we have tried our hardest to get out and about.  We have been trying very hard these days to stay away from Target, and expand our adventures ;)  Most recently we have taken MANY walks around Central Park and trips to the library.  I wish I would have known earlier on about the baby play area they have at the library.  That would have saved many boring days! 

Harrison went swimming for the first time this past weekend, and he LOVED it.  Like always, the child had no fear and I felt like my heart was in my throat the whole time. There was only one incident of "face in the water" but like usual I reacted more strongly than he did :)  Since we started giving baths with him sitting up in the tub, I've been trying to "not prevent" water from getting in his eyes.  Mind you, I don't purposefully dump water on his head, but if it runs down his face I try to let him get used to it.  Apparently its paid off, he spent most of Saturday splashing himself in the face.

Yet another month has flown by and Harrison continues to amaze us.  I'm anxious to watch his vocabulary continue to grow (we've gotten "da-da" but no "ma-ma" yet...)  and hope that his physical development will slow down just a touch!

Half of a Baby: 6 Months

Today marks Harrison's 1/2 birthday, he is now 6 months old!  While each passing birthday  is another reminder of how quickly he is growing up, this one has hit me harder than the others.  I was pretty misty-eyed this morning after waking up and singing our morning song --no I will not sing it for anyone else, but for Harrison I make the exception :)  6 months old.  He is now "half a baby" and already halfway towards being a toddler.  Wow. I feel very blessed to have such a healthy, happy baby boy.  I am thankful every day that we are lucky enough to have this wonderful boy in our lives.

"Don't worry, I can get them myself"

"They're MINE!"

Harrison made his way to the doctor today (on his birthday, I know, I'm a mean mom.) and received his last round of initial vaccines.  I have to say, this time was 10x more difficult than the others.  I don't know if its because he seems like a little boy now or if its because he expresses his fears and sadness more clearly than just the cries of a newborn, but it was all I could do to keep myself from crying.  Standing there holding his hands and kissing his cheeks while he cried. Ugh. I could cry again.  Harrison measured in at 28 inches (up an inch and a half since his 4 month appointment) and 16.8 pounds (up 2 pounds) He is still in the 90th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight.  Tall skinny minnie :)  I can't describe to you how thrilled I was to see 28 inches for height.  "YAY, WE STILL HAVE 2 MORE INCHES UNTIL WE NEED TO BUY A NEW CAR SEAT!"

Also at the appointment, we discussed Harrison's eating habits and his clear preference to solids over formula.  Harrison will be happy to know that as long as he gets 3 bottles in a day, he can eat all of the solids he likes.  This is exciting for me because I'm thoroughly enjoying introducing new foods to him.  So far he has tried sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, apples, pears, and apricots.  On tonight's menu is orange squash.  A few of the foods have been a little rough on his tummy (i.e. no poops followed by LOTS of poops), but he has yet to try a food he doesnt like.  I'm hoping that by continuing to introduce many different foods to him that he will develop a large palate.  No chicken nuggets or mac 'n' cheese here please...

In Other News...

Harrison is now sitting up during bath time.  This is a lot more fun for him, he is now able to play with all of his bath toys.  It is much more exhausting for Mom and Dad though since I'm not entirely convinced he's strong enough to not topple over into the soap dish.  That being said, 20 minutes of squatting in the back of the bathtub making sure he's steady is no fun.

Riding like a Big Boy

Harrison has mastered "all fours."  He can now easily get up on his hands and knees.  He hasn't quite figured out the "crawling" motion, its more that he throws himself forward.  Picture a baby doing the worm across the living room :)  He has also mastered "all threes"  Harrison has taken on his own variation of the tripod stance by getting up on all fours and then lifting one arm and pointing towards the ceiling. His version of Trikanasana.  Between this and his downward dog, I'm thinking we have a little Yogi on our hands!

Harrison demonstrating Downward Dog

Check out my teeth!

Harrison's vocabulary is also taking off in leaps.  He has developed into quite a chatter box, now using sounds such as "ba" and "da".  I'm still waiting on my "ma"...

Another month has flown by and our little man is growing bigger by the day.  Here's hoping the next 6 months slow down just a little :)

5 Months!

Harrison is now 5 months old!  How did that happen?!  Some days it feels like we have been together forever, and other days I just can't believe how fast time is flying by. The past month was a very fun and busy time for us, with a lot of new experiences for Harrison.

Harrison's first Easter

Harrison is now eating solids more, but sweet potatoes are still his favorite. We had some GI troubles for awhile and went back to a "bottle only" diet for a few days, but we're starting to get back on track.  Our newest introduction is peas.  The baby blender is still proving to be an awesome investment, 1 cup of frozen peas makes 8 servings of baby food!  Besides the money it saves (which honestly, is awesome), I find making his food to be kind of fun. When I transitioned from breastfeeding to formula feeding, a lot of the "I'm doing something good for my baby" feeling went away with it.  Its nice to have some of that feeling back :)
Harrison is now scooting backwards as well as moving in "circles."  His head and arms will remain in the same spot, but little-by-little his lower body will move around in a circle.  He's very frustrated right now that he can't move forward.  He reaches out to grab something on the blanket in front of him, and you can just see him trying to will himself forward.  Soon enough I'm sure!

Harrison is sleeping in his crib for naps now too (YAY!)  Up until recently he was still sleeping in his swing for nap times, simply because that is what was working.  He is now far too big for that and would wind up curled over in the bottom of the swing, so heavy that the swing would actually stop moving.  His nap times were getting shorter and shorter and we knew it was time to move to the crib.  Part of me was worried that once we started napping in the crib, he would no longer associate the crib with "nighttime" and "this is the time I sleep 10 hours for Mommy", but hopefully it wont be a problem!

Harrison slumped in his swing

Since Daniel and are still sharing a room with Harrison, it has become custom now for us to wake up to Harrison pulling down his mesh bumper and smiling at us. Every day begins with my little boy smiling at me.  This makes waking up early in the morning so much better!

"I can see you mom!"

Good Morning!

A few other new things:

Harrison is now reaching his arms out when he wants to be picked up--another thing I taught him that I'm sure will come back to bite me ;)  He is also learning how to "give hugs" and "give kisses".

His newest interest is in animals.  He absolutely loves my parents' dog Winston.  Whenever Winston comes into the room his face just lights up.  Harrison is learning how to "pet the puppy" and Winston even snuck in a kiss for Harrison yesterday.  Harrison has also become aware of our cat Scooter. He doesn't seem to notice the other cats, I'm not sure why.  Maybe he remembers Scooter mewing to him when he was in the womb :) Harrison has "pet" Scooter a few times, and its reassuring to see the cat simply sniff and nuzzle back.

Harrison and Scooter

Harrison is SO CLOSE to sitting up on his own.  As long as he has something in front of him to keep himself entertained, he can sit there on his own.  He is good with catching himself if he starts to topple over as well.  Once he loses interest in what is in front of him however, he gives up and falls over.  We also have given up using his Bumbo chair.  On more than one occasion now he has quite literally thrown himself from it.  He also loves standing (with help of course).

Harrison's favorite toys right now are his Jumperoo and stuffed animals.  When we purchased his jumper, we assumed it would be like all other toys where it would hold his interest for about 15 minutes a day, and after about a week would be garbage.  Definitely not the case!  Harrison will jump in that thing for an hour at a time, just laughing hysterically. Best. Investment. Ever.  We have also started playing "anticipation games" with Harrison.  We will start by either holding our hands or a stuffed animal above him and slowly come down to tickle his neck--the stuffed animals give kisses :) He has learned what the end result is and it is adorable to watch him squirm with excitement.  His favorite stuffed animal right now is his new Sock Monkey from Nana Pat.  I think its creepy looking, but he seems to love it!  I have found that Harrison enjoys sucking on stuffed animals 10x more than sucking on a pacifier or his hands.  Half of his laundry every week is stuffed animals who's limbs are just soggy.  Ick.  I cant complain though, it will be a lot easier in the long run to take away a stuffed animal than it is to take away a thumb!

Yummy Sock Monkey

Harrison's hair is finally coming back in!  He was rocking a pretty decent mohawk for awhile there, but it looks as though things are starting to fill in.  Over the last day or so he has started developing a "Conan O'Brien" bouffant.  Hopefully that is not permanent...

Check out my hair!

We continue to watch our little man grow before our eyes.  It is all happening way too fast.  Sometimes it feels like Harrison is more of a toddler than a 5 month old.  I practically had a heart attack while taking his 5 Month picture on our living room chair for fear that he was going to leap off.  It seems so long ago that he was just a little blob who could be placed anywhere and not move.  We are quickly realizing that the time to baby proof the apartment has come! We are anxiously looking forward to the upcoming spring months and getting excited to be outside more!  Here is to month 6 :)

5 Months